Addition

My best friend has just been to stay for the weekend. She's always on some sort of diet. She has been ever since I met her, which was almost 20 years ago. As usual we chatted about everything. And we came to the conclusion that everyone is addicted to something.

I will freely admit that my addiction is wine. No way could I open a bottle and keep it in the fridge for more than a couple of days. Well, actually no way could I open a bottle and not polish off the lot.

However in my fridge I have a box of 'After Eight' chocolates that I opened almost six months ago. They'll probably stay there for another six months and then I'll end up throwing them out. My friend said there was no way she could keep anything like that in her fridge. Once she's opened chocolates, biscuits or anything sweet she has to eat it.

So I'm addicted to alcohol, she's addicted to food. Which is worse? I'm probably damaging my liver, she's probably putting herself at risk of a heart attack.

It got us thinking - does everyone have some sort of addiction? And our conclusion was an overwhelming YES.

In the 1980's I was addicted to aerobics. I attended a class every day and at the height of my addiction also taught 3 classes a week. I most definitely was 'addicted' - if I even missed just one class I felt fat, unfit & sluggish. But was that a better type of addiction than alcohol? At the time I drank endless cups of black coffee & ate lean meat with lots of vegetables and people told me I was too thin. And yet the media is always telling us to exercise, eat healthily, stick to our 14 units of alcohol a week and avoid drugs!

And now here I am on 'Blipfoto'. I've looked at loads of other blips and read the comments and time and time again the comment, 'you'll find it's addictive', crops up. Blipfoto is addictive. I don't want to get to the stage where my 'homepage' is Blipfoto and I'm checking every few seconds to see if anyone has commented on my blips.

Addiction - is any one addiction really any worse than any other. Does someone who is addicted to food or exercise find it easier to break that addiction than someone who is addicted to alcohol or drugs?

The Oxford Concise Dictionary describes an 'Addict' as 'Person addicted to a habit'.
I would say that, that description probably covers most of society??!!